YIBC: Edwards inspires delegates to sail towards goals

TRACEY Edwards MBE told delegates at the Yorkshire International Business Convention how she has overcome major highs and lows during her remarkable career as a round the world yachts woman.

And she told delegates that with passion and dedication, people can achieve their dreams and goals.

Edwards explained how after being expelled from school at 15, her passion for sailing was ignited during a backpacking holiday.

However, despite skippering the first all female crew to take part in the Round the World Yacht Race, her career has been anything but plain sailing with Edwards being declared bankrupt in 2005 after not being paid for her part in organising a yachting event in Qatar. 

A spell working on a yacht in her teens fuelled her passion for sailing.

“I simply fell in love with sailing and decided to do it for the rest of my life,” she said. “And the reason that happened was because I was looking at the upside in life.

“I feel I perform at my best when I’m outside my comfort zone.”

After learning her skills on the water, Edwards put together the first all women team to take part in the Whitbread Round the World race, with the team coming in second position overall.

She said the advantages of skippering the team of female crew was that she wasn’t being told how to do things by a male team.

“I made it up as I went along.”

After crashing out of the Jules Verne challenge (around the world non-stop) when the mast collapsed (“for eight days we thought we were going to die”), Edwards helped to organise The Oryx Quest in Qatar in 2005.

However, a wrangle over payment with the Crown Prince left her £8m out of pocket and she was declared bankrupt.

Edwards described the episode as a “petrifying experience” and said not knowing if she could look after her family scared her more than dying in the ocean.

But she told the audience that there was always an upside to difficult situations: “The upside was that no-one could say to me anymore ‘what are you going to do with your life?’. I thought this is freedom.”

Edwards then decided to work for the Child Exploitation and Online Protection organisation: “I have to say it’s been the most extraordinary part of my life.”

She is now set to start a university course in forensic psychology and criminology in order to help more children.

And she left delegates with the following message: “If you are passionate about something and you can bring people on board you can change the world.”